Tech In Chicago

Why Pornographers & Criminals Make For Great Customers & Chicago Tech History - Jeff Carter / VC at Hyde Park Angels & West Loop Ventures


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Jeff Carter is a co-founder of Hyde Park Angels, one of the most active angel groups in the United States, and he is currently raising a VC fund, named West Loop Ventures. Before becoming an angel he was a trader for over 25 years and he continues to trade independently. 

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In This Episode You Will Learn:

  • How Hyde Park Angels started?
  • Why traders make for good angel investors?
  • Why having pornographers and money launderers latching on to your product early is a great sign? 
  • Why it has been easier to find LPs for West Loop Ventures outside of Chicago? 
  • Why you have to be a great analyzer of people and not just ideas for seed investing?
  • Why it's important to have a vision for the future as a seed investor?
  • Why VCs can bet on ideas, but angels have to be on people?
  • Why being coachable is so important for entrepreneurs?
  • How an entrepreneur/investor relationship is like dating? 
  • Why he makes a point of blogging everyday?
  • What we have to do to keep growing the Chicago tech scene? 

Favorite Blogs:

  • Streetwise Professor by Craig Pirrong
  • AVC by Fred Wilson
  • Feld's Thoughts by Brad Feld
  • The Musings of The Big Red Car by Jeffrey Minch

Favorite Books:

  • City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald Miller
  • The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer 
  • Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by James D. Hornfischer 
  • The Doolittle Raid: America's Daring First Strike Against Japan by Carroll V. Glines  
  • High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
  • Personnel Economics in Practice by Edward P. Lazear, Michael Gibbs

Selected Links From The Episode:

  • Kenny Estes, VC at West Loop Ventures
  • Vishal Verma, Co-Founder of Hyde Park Angels
  • Steve Kaplan, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Kathleen Swan, startup attorney
  • Raman Chadha, Co-Founder of Junto Institute 
  • Irish Angels, Notre Dame inspired angel group
  • Jason Kunesh, CEO of Public Good
  • Dan Ratner, COO at Public Good
  • Marc Halpin, CEO of Kapow Events
  • Daniel McCormick, COO of Kapow Events
  • Sam Rosen, Founder of Deskpass
  • Jay Swoboda, CEO of Dabble
  • Robert Rosenberg, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Mark Tebbe, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • PJ Media, conservative news site
  • Rick Santelli, Editor at CNBC
  • Sean Chou, Founder of Catalytic
  • Amanda Lannert, CEO of Jellyvision
  • Dick Costello, former CEO of Twitter
  • "The Nature of the Firm" (1937), an influential article by Ronald Coase
  • Merton Miller, deceased Professor from University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Bryan Johnson, Founder of Braintree and OS Fund
  • Matt Maloney, Founder of Grub Hub
...more
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Tech In ChicagoBy Colin Keeley

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